The Hunter's Prey
by sealednectar
Summary: That piece of paper means everything, Hunch, get it, kill that foolish boy or else it's you. It's that simple.
1. Captured

**The Hunter's Prey **

_Prologue_

It was more of a shack than anything. As he looked through one heavy-lidded eye he noticed the dim light bulb flickering slowly in the dark room, swinging from side to side from the bitter wind that found its way through cracks and shafts that pierced the walls and ceiling.

The walls were rotting, the ceiling low, and insects were flying and buzzing around, moths making the little light flitter around.

The shadows were large and changed as the light kept changing its course. There was a small window in one wall, high up, opaque from the dirt and grime that had infested upon it. As he scanned the room, his open eye landed on the door, nearly falling away from its rotten hinges. He could see the rain pelting down outside, the tall forest looming not so far away.

There was a brown leather coat strewn on the moth eaten covers of a narrow bed in the far corner, a small lump hunched in a somewhat distorted shape under its covers. As he watched, he saw that its chest was rising and falling. It came back to him, like a slap in the face.

_Hunch and Pierce ._Dread filled him but he stayed quiet. It would be no use to wake up one of them.

There was a small basin and mirror not too far away from him.

In one corner there was a small, rickety table, only two items on its tabletop. A knife and a…paper. Was this what he was looking for? Hope filled him, something he had not felt since he had come around. But hope was quickly vanquished when he remembered that he was tied to a chair with ropes the size of snakes, two bruised eyes, a limp because of a sprain in his leg and a huge gash in his shoulder? He would never be able to get to it, let alone get out.

Alex told himself not to panic as he tested the strength of the bonds. It was secure. His hands were cold but sweating. He could hear his own somewhat calm breathing as he fought to pull off the ropes. He hoped whoever was in the bed would not wake up any time soon, then he set about releasing himself, knowing that the ropes were the only thing standing between himself and freedom.

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**A/N:** I'm quite happy with that. Short and to the point. Hopefully it'll stand alone. R & R please! 


	2. Lost

**The Hunter's Prey** _Chapter 1_

He was lost. His eyes searched the dense green forest. Droplets of rain penetrated the treetops running down the sides of his face. Pulling himself into the brown leather coat he had _borrowed,_ Alex grimaced. The smell of stale body odour wafted into his nostrils, which wrinkled in disgust.

His heart was racing. He was lost and his captors would have already realised he was missing. He was squatted behind a bush, surveying the piece of paper with interest.

This was what he had been waiting for. It was the map he had been sent for. But his forehead creased as he realised it had nothing more than a faded phone number on it. He sighed in exhaustion. After all this, and he had achieved nothing! He slumped and rubbed his dirt-streaked face.

He knew he should have kept moving, Hunch and Pierce couldn't be too far away, but the realisation of having run away with a most likely useless phone number had drained him. He closed his eyes. Two days with the crazy madmen were enough. He wanted nothing but to go back home to Jack. All he had to do now was find his way home. He wondered where he was.

"Where is he?" Pierce roared as he slammed the empty chair away-it crashed against a wall, which groaned loudly.

Hunch jumped out of his sleep.

He rubbed his tired eyes and stared wide-eyed as Pierce advanced towards him.

Pierce grabbed him by the collar and pulled him up, slamming him against the headboard. "Where's the boy?" He snarled, his face inches away from the terrified Hunch.

"Boy?" Hunch asked slowly, his voice quavering under Pierce's unflinching gaze.

"Alex Rider!" Pierce roared, hitting Hunch across the face and dropping him like a sack of potatoes.

"He's gone Hunch! And if you don't find him, you'll not only have me to answer to, but Vile as well." Pierce hissed.

Hunch looked terrified. They sat in silence for a while. Pierce was praying for himself. He knew he would have to answer to Vile as well, seeing as he was Hunch's superior. He felt scared for his own life. Growling under his breath, he narrowed his steel grey eyes to Hunch and hissed, "Come on then, what are you waiting for?"

He threw him a dirty look and strode out of the shack and into the rain; Hunch following close behind.

Alex pushed a low branch away and hurried passed. He kept looking over his shoulder. The piece of paper rested in his jean pocket and he had already memorised the number.

An hour later he was in a clearing, the path divided into two and he stood, stock-still not knowing which way to go. Which one would lead him to safety, he wondered. The decision weighed heavily on him, but feeling reckless, he took the left path, hoping wherever he ended up had a phone.

The forest was dark by now, gaps in the treetops showed small slivers of the starlit sky, Alex was slightly comforted by it. He didn't let his mind wonder to what else could be lurking in here beside him.

He'd been wondering around for hours. He was tired, starving and hurt, he couldn't even see properly, he couldn't even walk properly and he had given up hope already. This road was obviously hopeless. He was sure he had passed one tree at least twice.

An owl hooted close by and Alex jumped at the nearness. His heartbeat returning to normal, he searched for somewhere to rest and made his way to the large roots of a towering tree. He didn't know what to expect tomorrow.

He had barely closed his eyes when he heard a twig snap from the path he had come from.

"Hunch, keep it down. He can probably hear you a mile away."

The sound of Pierce's cold and unforgiving voice made Alex snap his head up and scamper behind the nearest shrub. He held his breath, his eyes searching the blackness of the never-ending forest.

He heard footsteps enter the clearing he had just been in. The wind howled, shrubs and bushes shifted.

"He must be here somewhere!" Pierce said gruffly. Hunch winced.

His pale, flabby face had blotches of red in it and his piggy, brown eyes shifted around the area.

"He's not here."

They started moving away, passed the shrub where Alex was hidden, who thought it was safe to let out his sigh of relief-but was proven wrong when the stout Hunch snatched the shrub away and glared down triumphantly into Alex's defeated face.

Alex turned and ran. The only thing he could do. Running blindly through a thick forest, tripping over his own feet. Suddenly he was grabbed around the middle and he and his captor tumbled to the earthy floor.

"Gotcha!"

**A/N: Thanks to _MzHissyFits_ and _Remussweetie _for your reviews- Reviews really motivate you to keep on writing! **

**I'm just telling you now that I'm making this up as I go along, R&R please and tell me what you think !**


	3. The Ride

**The Hunter's Prey** _Chapter 2_

"**_This mission, Alex, is top secret." Alan Blunt said, sounding almost mysterious._**

_**Alex raised his eyebrows.**_

_**Alan Blunt chucked a folder in front of Alex, onto the table.**_

**_Alex picked it up and opened it. He scanned the picture of one Roberto Giovanni; also known as the Vile Hunter. Personally, Alex thought it was a stupid nickname. _**

**_The picture was a bit blurry, and Alex wondered why MI6 couldn't get a 100 percent clear picture, what with all the technology they had._**

_**He looked up at Alan Blunt questioningly and Alan Blunt answered snappishly.**_

"_**He does everything underground. He lives, sleeps and works underground. It's not our fault he rarely sees sunlight." Alan Blunt said, trying to defend himself.**_

**_Alex vaguely wondered whether Robert Giovanni was a vampire, he certainly fit the criteria, well, whatever Alex's version of one was supposedly like._**

**_His hair was lank and black, his eyes were dark from what Alex could see, he was a tall man, his face was half turned away in the picture but Alex could see that he was pale and his eyes and forehead were creased against the sunlight._**

"**_What's he doing there?" Alex asked, nodding to the picture._**

"_**He meets an associate in a few minutes." Alan Blunt said shortly.**_

"**_Roberto Giovanni was thrown into prison at the age of thirty-eight after he murdered an associate, Phyllis Crawford, when he found out she was working for us. We suspected Roberto, who had had many run-ins with the police already had killed, or was involved in the torture and murder of some of the richest men in the country. Poor Phyllis…" Mrs Jones said, lowering her head in respect._**

"**_All we want you to do Alex is locate Giovanni."_**

_**Alex opened his mouth to speak before Mrs Jones added,**_

"**_He escaped prison; of course, he had outside help," She sighed._**

"**_The last time we saw him was in Portugal, after that…there was nothing."_**

"**_If you saw him in Portugal…why didn't you just get him back?" Alex asked._**

**_There was a short pause._**

"_**He's up to something. Him and his underground group. We thought, if we watched him, kept a close eye on him, we could arrest him and expose his group and whatever it is that they're doing." Alan Blunt explained.**_

"_**Obviously it didn't work." Alex filled in.**_

"…_**So will you do it Alex? Your new mission?" Mrs Jones said.**_

"_**Me?"**_

"_**Yes, you Alex. We wouldn't have told you all of this otherwise." Mrs Jones said.**_

"_**No." Alex said firmly.**_

"_**No?" Alan Blunt repeated.**_

"**_No." Alex confirmed. They had a short staring match before Alan Blunt spoke, his voice slow._**

"_**You live with a woman named Jack Starbright, correct?" Alan Blunt asked, though he already knew the answer.**_

"_**Yes." Alex said just as slowly. He wondered where this was going.**_

"_**She comes from America?" Alan Blunt questioned.**_

"_**What's this got to do with anything?" Alex asked, wary.**_

"**_Do you want us to deport her?" Alan Blunt asked._**

_**Alex jumped up, his mouth agape.**_

"_**Deport her! She's got as much right to be here as you do! She's a British Citizen, she was born here." Alex said, infuriated. **_

"_**A few calls. A few letters. I'm sure something can be arranged." Alan Blunt twiddled his thumbs. **_

_**Alex glared at the man before him, but he knew if he did not do this then Jack would be going back to America.**_

"_**You just want me to locate him?"**_

"**_Yes. Locate him, tell us where he is and you can go home. That's all." _**

**_Alex stared down at the pale face in the picture and a new expression came over his face: determination._**

"**_I'll do it."

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_**

**Alex opened his eyes and blinked, taking stock of his surroundings. Why did this feel so familiar? His hands were tied up and so were his legs. He noticed he had been unceremoniously dumped on the floor of a moving vehicle. It was big; it must've been a lorry. Alex tested the bonds, knowing he was too weak to escape this time and anyway, Hunch and Pierce would make sure he didn't slip from their clutches another time. The last thing he remembered was Hunch's fist in his face. He wondered how long he had been out for. Where were they going?**

**Mentally, he cursed Alan Blunt for nearly blackmailing him into this and Mrs Jones too, he added silently, she didn't even say a word to help him. Trying to act as though she cared, but Alex knew better. They didn't give a damn whether he lived or died. Where were they now? He had been beaten and bruised, of course worse had happened before, but if he wasn't careful, he wouldn't live to see his fifteenth birthday! Alex knew, if Alan Blunt could hear his moaning now, he would most probably tell him to put a sock in it and then tell him to be _proud_ of all his scars and purple bruises, after all, it was something to show the _grandchildren_. **

**He could hear the engine vibrating loudly. He gasped when the lorry started going uphill and he slid across the floor, his back thumping into the lorry wall. Then the lorry started speeding, Alex was sure, and if he didn't know better, he would suspect Hunch and Pierce were breaking the law just to punish him, letting him get beaten to a pulp for the fun of it. After a while and having cramps in his legs, Alex felt the lorry start going downhill sharply. He let out a small cry that was stifled by the gag in his mouth as he careered down to the opposite wall of the lorry. He met it with a friendly 'thump'. **

"**Keep it down in there!" He heard someone shout through the thick wall, and Alex distinguished Hunch's voice, he felt like murdering him.**

**The back of the lorry was empty except for himself, and Alex could smell the faint scent of blood. A wave of nausea hit him but he kept the bile down, after all he _was_ gagged. Alex counted twenty minutes before the lorry came to an eventual stop. The engine was turned off, two doors slammed, footsteps. There was silence for a minute. Maybe they would just leave him here, let him starve to death. But then the back door slid open so quickly that Alex flinched. He had been in the dark for so long now, that the light was almost blinding. **

"**Having fun?" Someone asked loudly in his ear. Someone kicked him. Coarse hands grabbed him around the middle and pulled him to his feet. Alex's vision shook slightly before he composed himself.**

**He looked into Pierce's sneering face. Hunch was on his other side. **

"**Where are we?" He asked.**

"**That's for us to know, and for you to…_not_ find out."**

**Pierce pulled him out of the lorry and Alex looked around, taking stock of his surroundings. They were in a car park of sorts.**

"**Ah, Alex Rider! I've been expecting you."**

**It was Roberto Giovanni.**

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A/N: Does that qualify as a cliff-hanger or not? I don't really know. Anyway, this story is back! As you can see. Somethings are still a bit murky with this story, but I have an outline for it and I love it! What do you think of the baddy's name? It was allI could think of. And as for the 'Vile Hunter', well I don't like it as much as Alex likes it, but i wanted it to do something with the title.

A BIG THANKS to: Zepplin Girl, MzHissyFits, Lizzy borden and IwuvMyKenshyPoo!

Review! Pretty please!


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